Congratulations go out to the newly minted Cisco Certified Design Experts that passed the Practical Exam after attending INE's CCDE Bootcamp with me in Chicago last week! So far I know of at least 9 students from this past week's class and previous ones that passed the practical this time around. Here's what some of them had to say:

I had accomplished 2 CCIE's and was ready for the CCDE. I took the CCDE v1 test a couple of years ago and failed miserably. I came to the INE CCDE boot camp with really no expectations. I didn't only learn some technical details through the boot camp, I learned the mental strategies needed to get through this test. Thanks, INE!!

Rob Gonzalez, CCDE #20130059

Brian's approach in how to tackle the exam question were invaluable. I was able to successfully navigate several difficult questions there on my first attempt. Thanks to Brian and his insight I was able to pass.

Travis Jones, CCDE #20130060

Hi Brian,

Just wanted to drop you a note that I passed the exam today. Still in shock, but it’s starting to sink in. Thanks for a great session this week. I’ll highly recommend it!

Dave Fusik, CCDE #20130070

I passed the CCDE in Chicago after attending the 3 day INE CCDE Bootcamp with Brian McGahan. The room was full of very intelligent and experienced individuals who started discussions that helped solidify my knowledge in the topics tested on the exam. Thank you once again INE!

Dana Yanch, CCDE #20130071

As it seems that the interest in the CCDE track is continuing to grow, INE is going to continue to offer our study sessions which follow along with Cisco's schedule for the Practical Exam. The next Practical Exam is scheduled for Thursday February 20th 2014, so expect our next session to likely run Monday - Wednesday that same week in Chicago. However since Cisco is now offering the CCDE Practical Exam at all Pearson Professional Center locations, there's a possibility that we may be moving our next study session to an online format.

If you're interested in attending one of INE's CCDE Bootcamps in the future, let me know via comments below if you prefer it in an online format or a live onsite format. The advantage of course of running it online is that you can attend from anywhere, but at the expense of the live class discussion that happens in an onsite class.

Also don't forget to check out our CCDE Practical Recommended Reading List, as the topic scope for the exam is immense to say the least.

Congrats again to the newest CCDEs of 2013!